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The president of France spoke pretty good French

Jim Bradshaw

Legendary St. Landry Parish Sheriff Daley J. “Cat” Doucet was one of the dignitaries who greeted French President Charles deGaulle when he visited Louisiana at the end of April 1960, and had some complimentary things to say about him. Afterwards, for example, Doucet told the press, “His French isn’t too bad.”
I was reminded of the story by the recent La Semaine Francaise d’Arnaudville (French Week in Arnaudville) and the ongoing effort there to create a French immersion center in an old hospital.
DeGaulle landed in New Orleans on April 29, 1960. It was the last stop in a tour of the U.S. that also included visits to Washington, New York, and San Francisco. Louisiana officials said they had arranged it that way to be sure that the French president’s last impression of the United States was a good one.
It was probably a mixed impression. DeGaulle was cheered during a parade down Canal Street, but, as Life magazine reported, when Gov. Earl Long rose to speak at a luncheon honoring the president, Uncle Earl briefly paraphrased a Grantland Rice quotation, saying, “When the Great Scorer comes to write the score against his name, He won’t write how he won or lost but how he played the game.” With that, Life reported, the governor “stuffed his hat on his shaggy head and stomped out.”
Sheriff Doucet minded his manners a little better and told the local press on his return to St. Landry Parish that he was one of the first of the Louisiana greeters to shake hands with deGaulle when he arrived at the New Orleans airport.
“They made us stand in two lines,” Cat said “I said, ‘bonjour, M’sieu le Presidente.’ We shook hands [and] he said to me, ‘je suis fier d’attend la langue francaise.’ That means he was proud to hear me talk French to him.”
The moment seemed to impress Life’s editors, too. The picture of Cat and M’sieu le Presidente shaking hands made the magazine’s cover.
“I guess I was the one who talked the most French to President deGaulle,” Cat said. “He could defend himself pretty good in French.”
Cat also spoke at length with deGaulle’s wife, noting to the local reporters that “her name is Yvonne, same as my daughter’s,” and that Mrs. deGaulle “looked like Mrs. George Joubert of Lawtell.”
According to a Chicago Tribune report, deGaulle rushed from the airport to the French Quarter, where he was greeted by “booming cannons” in Jackson Square. The St. Landry sheriff was impressed by a ceremony at St. Louis Cathedral and also by one of the items that lit up the banquet that Long stomped out of.
Regarding the ceremony at the cathedral and review in Jackson Square after it: “The priest threw holy water on him and all that. He wore his general’s uniform, and all his medals, and when the soldiers would pass in the parade he would salute every now and then.”
As for the banquet, Cat was astounded over “something in a big bowl, like whiskey” that they set fire to “and walked through the room with it burning. …. That’s the first time I seen that,” he said.
The sheriff pointed out that deGaulle wasn’t the first president he’d met, though he was the first who held the rank at the time of the meeting. He’d met Sen. John Kennedy when JFK rode in the 1956 Yambilee parade in Opelousas, and LBJ when he was campaigning for vice president.
I find nothing to indicate whether deGaulle left New Orleans with the good impression town leaders wanted to convey. The Chicago Tribune was less enthusiastic about the story than Life magazine. The newspaper editors buried it in the middle of the third section, next to Dick Tracey, Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, and other cartoons.
But deGaulle did leave a good impression on the sheriff.
“He was a very independent old gentleman,” Cat said. “He stood up straight, very dignified.”

You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

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